JPH02136646A - Hot water supply apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To judge whether a flow sensor is in a breakdown when one of an automatic bath hot water supply flow sensor or an influent water flow sensor does not detect the water flow during automatic bath hot water supply operation, by judging whether such state lasts for a specified time period. CONSTITUTION:When an automatic bath hot water supply switch is turned on to start only automatic bath hot water supply operation, on-off combustion of a burner 7 takes place to heat the influent water up to the pre-set automatic hot water supply temperature, and an excess hot water flow is regulated by a hot water low controller 13. Simultaneously, an automatic bath hot water supply valve 15 is opened to start automatic hot water supply to a bath. An influent water flow sensor 8 detects the flow rate of the influent water during automatic bath hot water supply operation, and a timer is turned on when an automatic bath hot water supply flow sensor 16 does not detect the water flow. And when such state lasts until time is over, it is judged that the automatic bath hot water supply sensor 16 is in a breakdown, and the breakdown is indicated. In other case than above, the timer is turned off and the breakdown indication does not takes place.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a hot water supply device capable of supplying general hot water to a kitchen or the like and automatically supplying hot water to a bathtub.

<Conventional technology> Conventionally, as a water heater capable of general hot water supply and automatic bath water supply,
For example, there is a water heater described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-23746. The outline of this device will be explained using the schematic configuration diagram shown in Fig. 4. 1 is a water inlet pipe, 2 is a heat exchanger, 3 is a hot water outlet pipe, 4 is a cut-off valve, 5 is an automatic bath water supply pipe, 6 is a hot water supply pipe. is a general hot water supply pipe to the kitchen, etc., 7 is a burner, 8 is a water inlet flow rate sensor, 9
10 is a water volume switch, 10 is a control unit, and 11 is a remote control. When only the bath automatic hot water supply is being performed, the switching valve 4 connects the flow path to the bath automatic hot water supply pipe 5, and in addition, the hot water supply temperature control is set to the bath automatic hot water supply temperature control. On the other hand, when general hot water supply is started independently or when automatic bath water supply is being performed, the water flow switch 9 detects the start of general hot water supply, and the switching valve 4 switches the flow path to the general hot water supply pipe. When switching to the 6 side, hot water temperature control is switched to general hot water temperature control.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in the conventional device described above, only one incoming water flow rate sensor 8 is provided to detect the flow rate, so even if this incoming water flow rate sensor 8 malfunctions, it can be easily fixed. There was a problem that it could not be detected. If this incoming water flow rate sensor 8 fails, at least the water amount information for controlling combustion in the burner will be incorrect.

In addition, in the conventional device described above, it is not possible to perform general hot water supply and automatic bath water supply at the same time, but if it is possible to perform both at the same time, in addition to the water input flow rate sensor 8, a bath water supply system for detecting the amount of automatic hot water supply for the bath can be used. An automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor is required, for example, in the bath automatic hot water supply pipe 5. However, even when an automatic bath hot water supply flow rate sensor is provided in addition to the water inlet flow rate sensor 8, no suitable means has been conventionally taken to detect failure of these flow rate sensors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and provide a water heater that can easily detect and display failure of a flow rate sensor.

Means for Solving the Problems> The hot water supply device of the present invention can supply hot water heated from an inlet pipe through a heat exchanger to a kitchen, etc., and can also automatically supply hot water to a bathtub through an automatic bath water supply pipe. In the hot water supply device, during automatic hot water supply operation to a bathtub, either one of the water inlet flow rate sensor provided in the water inlet pipe and the bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor provided in the bath automatic hot water supply pipe does not detect the flow rate, Moreover, if this state continues for a certain period of time or more, it is determined that the non-detecting flow rate sensor is malfunctioning.

Function> During automatic hot water supply operation, both the incoming water flow rate sensor and the automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor should detect the flow rate, so if either one is not detecting the flow rate at this time, the sensor that is not detecting the flow rate is likely to be malfunctioning. It turns out that. However, for example, if the switch on the general hot water supply side is fully opened during automatic hot water supply operation, hot water may temporarily not flow to the automatic hot water supply side. Therefore, if either one does not detect the flow rate, a further condition is whether or not this continues for a certain period of time or more, and only when the non-detection state continues for a certain period of time or more is considered to be a failure.

<Example> Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a water heater showing an example of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for detecting failure of the flow rate sensor, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart for detecting failure of the automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor.

Water supplied from the water inlet pipe 1 is heated through a heat exchanger 2, and then flows from the hot water outlet pipe 3 to the bath automatic hot water supply pipe 5 for automatic hot water supply to the bathtub, or to the general hot water supply pipe 6 for the kitchen and other areas. flows. The heat exchanger 2 is heated by combustion in the burner 7. The combustion of the burner 7 can be controlled by on-off combustion. Of course, proportional control combustion control may be used. The water inlet pipe l is provided with an incoming water flow rate sensor 8 for detecting the incoming water flow rate and an incoming water temperature sensor 12, and the outgoing water pipe 3 is provided with an outgoing hot water flow rate regulator 13 and an outgoing hot water temperature sensor 14, and the bath automatic hot water supply pipe 5 is provided with an automatic bath water supply valve 15 and an automatic bath water supply flow rate sensor 16, and the general water supply pipe 6 is provided with a check valve 17 and a counter 18. A bypass pipe 19 and a bypass valve 20 are provided from the water inlet pipe 1 to the general hot water supply pipe 6.

The control unit 10 is a part that controls the operation of the device, and has a built-in microcomputer, and receives commands from the remote controller 11, input water flow rate sensor 8, input water temperature sensor 12, outlet hot water temperature sensor 14, bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor 16, etc. information is obtained, calculations and judgments are made according to a certain program, and predetermined commands are output to the burner 7, hot water flow rate regulator 13, bath automatic hot water supply valve 15, bypass valve 20, etc., and the remote control 11
commands the operation display, etc.

The remote controller 11 is provided with an operation switch, an automatic bath water supply switch, etc., as well as an automatic bath hot water supply temperature control setting section, a bath automatic hot water supply amount setting section, a general hot water supply temperature control setting section, and a malfunction display section. It is being

If only the bath automatic hot water supply operation is performed now, when the bath automatic hot water supply switch is turned on, the on/off combustion of the burner 7 and the excessive hot water output by the hot water output flow rate regulator 13 are adjusted so that the bath automatic hot water supply temperature is set in advance. At the same time, the bath automatic hot water supply valve 15 is opened and hot water is automatically supplied to the bathtub. Then, when a predetermined amount of hot water is reached according to the detection signal from the bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor 16, the bath automatic hot water supply valve 1
5 is closed, and combustion of the burner 7 is stopped.

On the other hand, general hot water supply is performed by opening the collar 18. In this case, general hot water supply can also be performed during bath automatic hot water supply operation. However, automatic bath water temperature control takes priority when it comes to hot water temperature control.

In the configuration of the water heater as described above, the incoming water flow rate sensor 8
Detection of failure of the bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor 16 will be further explained with reference to FIG. 2.

Now, when automatic bath water supply operation starts (step (a)
), the incoming water flow rate sensor 8 and the automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor 16 detect the flow rate, but regarding the presence or absence of flow rate detection in both of them, only one of the two flow rate sensors 8.16 does not detect the flow rate in the control unit IO. First, determine whether (step (b)). If only one of them is not detecting the flow rate, a timer in the control unit 10 is turned on (step (c)), and if the above state continues while the timer times up (step (c)). d)), the flow rate sensor that does not detect the flow rate is determined to be malfunctioning, and the remote controller 11
On the other hand, if the flow rate sensor that was not detecting the flow rate before the timer expires detects the flow rate, the timer is canceled (step (E)). Therefore, in this case, it is not determined that there is a failure.

By the way, the water input flow rate sensor 8 and the automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor 1
6, the automatic bath hot water supply flow rate sensor 16 is the one whose flow rate is often not detected due to reasons other than failure. In other words, when the general hot water heater is fully opened, hot water may not flow properly to the bath automatic hot water supply pipe 5 side. Therefore, in order to accurately detect a failure of the bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor 16, it is possible to carry out a control operation in the control section 10 according to the flow shown in FIG. 3 as a more specific means. That is, in FIG. 3, during the bath automatic hot water supply operation (step (A)), the incoming water flow rate sensor 8 is detecting the flow rate (step (B)), and the bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor 16 is not detecting the flow rate. If not (step (C)), turn on the timer (step (D)), and if the state continues until time-up (step (D)).
In step (E)), it is determined that the bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor 16 is malfunctioning, and a malfunction is displayed (step (F)). In other cases, the timer is turned off (step (G)) and no failure is displayed. The time set by the timer can be selected, for example, from a range of ten minutes to several tens of minutes, taking into account the statistical time that a user would take to continuously supply hot water.

As mentioned above, if one of the flow rate sensors does not detect the flow rate during automatic hot water supply, the rate of false judgments can be reduced by determining the failure after a suitable period of time, rather than immediately determining the failure. Therefore, failure of the flow sensor can be determined more accurately.

<Effects> The present invention has the above configuration, and when either the bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor or the water inlet flow rate sensor does not detect the flow rate during bath automatic hot water supply operation, and this state continues for a certain period of time or more, In this case, the non-detecting flow sensor is determined to be faulty, so by using two flow sensors, each of which is required, it is possible to easily detect when one of the flow sensors is faulty. It became. Moreover, since we decided to make a judgment based on the duration of a certain period of time,
It has become possible to more accurately determine failures.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a water heater showing an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for detecting failure of the flow rate sensor, FIG. 3 is a flowchart for detecting failure of the automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor, and FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a conventional device. l: Water inlet pipe 2: Heat exchanger 5: Bath automatic hot water supply pipe 6: General hot water supply pipe 7: Burner
8: Incoming water flow rate sensor 10: Control section
11; Remote control 15: Bath automatic hot water supply valve 16: Bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Hot water heated from the water inlet pipe through the heat exchanger,
This water heater is capable of supplying general hot water to a kitchen, etc., and also automatically supplying hot water to a bathtub through an automatic bath water supply pipe, the water supply device being capable of automatically supplying hot water to a bathtub through an automatic bath water supply pipe, the water supply device being capable of automatically supplying hot water to a bathtub through an automatic bath water supply pipe. If one of the installed bath automatic hot water supply flow rate sensors does not detect the flow rate and this state continues for a certain period of time or more, it is determined that the non-detecting flow rate sensor is malfunctioning. A water heater featuring: